Boot or shoe.



I atented Dec. l8, I900;

R. HURMANN.

BOOT 0R SHOE.

Application filed Apr. 23, 1900.)

(No Model.)

INVENTOR Rude] fi'rmann WITNESSES .Mww

ATTORNEYS THE nomus PEI'ERS 00.. PNOTD-LITHO. WASHINGTON. u. C

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

RUDOLF HURMANN, OF HOBOKEN, NEW JERSEY.

BOOT OR SHOE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 664,044, dated December 18, 1900. Application filed April 23,1900. Serial No. 14,024. (No model!) T0 at whom it may concern;

Be it known that I, RUDOLF HoRMANN, a citizen of the United States, residing at E0- boken, in the county of Hudson and State of New Jersey, have invented new and useful Improvements in Boots or Shoes, of which the following is a specification.

By means of this invention a boot or shoe can be made to sit smoothly and with uniform pressure or fit; and the invention resides in the novel features of construction set forth in the following specification and claims and illustrated in the annexed drawings, in which Figure 1 shows the invention applied to a shoe. Fig. 2 is a section along 00 00, Fig. 1. Fig. 3 shows a gore. Fig. 4 shows gores secured or sewed together.

The elastic goring as heretofore applied to the instep portion of a shoe does not give satisfaction, since such elastic goring does not furnish uniform elasticity along the entire instep. To remedy such deficiency, this invention combines an elastic gore (indicated in Fig. 3) with another in such a way that their concave edges are sewed together along a straight line, as seen in Fig. 4,'wl1ere 1 and 2 indicate, respectively, two gores, their respective concave edges 3 being secured together in a straight line. This pair of gores is then inserted into place in the shoe by securing the outer convex edges 5 of the combined gores to the instep portion or flap 7, as seen in Fig. 1. It is also seen in Fig. 2 that the goring is shorter-that is, having less width than the leather or instep flap 7, which covers and conceals such goringand when the shoe is buttoned or fastened about the foot the goring 1 2 stretches and conforms to the curvature of the instep, so as to present a neat fit. The securing together of the two gores provides uniform elasticity along the entire instep, since the two gores so united will readily respond to the pull of the instepflap when being adjusted, and which pull is at right angles to the straight line at the center of the two gores. The gores can have a non-elastic lining, or one gore can be elastic and the other non-elastic. Such compound gore secures uniform elasticity along the entire instep, or the elastics of the gore are thrown into such position that they all extend in the direction of pull across the instep instead of being thrown out of line or on the bias.

The word shoe as used herein, it is of course understood, includes such footwear as boots, gaiters, and the like. Any suitable button or fastening-such, for example, as ball-and-socket fastenings familiar for glovefastening-can be applied to close the shoe or flap.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A shoe comprising an instep portion, and gore-sections having concave edges secured to one another along a straight line, and convex edges secured to the said instep portion of the shoe, substantially as and for the purpose described.

2. In a shoe or the like, the combination with the instep portion and instep-flap,of gore sections having concave and convex edges, the concave edges of said gore-sections being secured to one another along a straight line and the convex edges being secured to the instep-flap so as to throw the elastics all into the line of pull across the instep, substantially as described.

3. In a shoe or the like, the combination with the instep portion and instep-flap, of a compound gore having concave edges secured together along a straight line and convex edges secured to the instep-flap, the said gore being adapted to secure a uniform elasticity along the instep, the leather or other material of the shoe being loosely extended over the gore to cover the same, substantially as described.

4. In a shoe-upper or the like, the combination with the instep portion and the instepflap, of a compound gore the parts of which are secured together so as to dispose the elastics all into the line of pull and across the instep, said compound gore being secured to the instep-flap to cover and conceal said gore and having a fullness or looseness as compared with the gore, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

BUD OLF HORMANN.

Witnesses:

W. O. HAUFF, E. F. KASTENHUBER. 

